Dusk
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: Daphne only has until dusk draws in.


_**AN: **__For QLFC Season 7, Round 10. Choose a character and reverse their fate: Amelia Bones. Whether you focus on the moment that changed whether they lived or died, or you show the impact, the aftermath of their fate through someone else's eyes, or whatever is entirely up to you._

* * *

**Dusk **

**AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

Everything was distorted.

The movements around her were jerky and stilted and the surrounding noise was muffled as though Daphne was submerged in water. She was dreaming. Letting her eyes adjust to the warped scene in front of her, her focus was taken by the cascade of ginger hair that drifted down and settled against the back of the figure clutching at a door.

The dream was settling into a sharp focus now.

A broken sob crashed against her eardrums. The sound was crystal clear and Daphne's heart skipped a beat. This was no dream; no, this, this was a nightmare. This was a nightmare that was going to come true. Daphne knew this sense of immaculate clarity could only end with despair. It brought a sudden urgency to her need to decipher what was going on. If she could solve it then she would have more time to figure out what she was going to do—if anything.

As soon as Daphne realised who she looking at she abolished the possibility that she would do nothing at all.

Susan Bones was crumpled against the inside of a cupboard door. One hand was loosely holding the doorknob and her forehead was pressed against the wood. The Hufflepuff's shoulder shook as she cried.

Daphne's mind worked fast. Was Susan trapped? Locked up somewhere? She didn't look injured, although the surroundings were dark and she was wearing clothes, so that didn't mean she wasn't hurt. Where was she? Judging by the slanted ceiling and storage items the space was a cupboard underneath a staircase. Why would Susan be locked in a cupboard?

Just as Daphne was trying to recall pieces of Susan's family background that she'd picked up over the years at Hogwarts an acrid smell filled her nostrils.

There was something more going on here.

Susan's sobs washed over Daphne, making her skin itch. She could offer no comfort like a normal dream; Daphne was simply an observer. She had no control over what she saw, heard, smelt, or otherwise. Just as she was beginning to feel useless, her consciousness shrank around her, sucking her through the keyhole of the cupboard into the room beyond the door. With Susan's tragic state of affairs behind her, Daphne was confronted with a new horrifying reality, the partial remains of what would have been some sort of living room.

One side of the room opened out into pitch-black night. The other side, shielded by half a smouldering roof, was filled with flickering red wand light. As her surroundings readjusted back into sharp clarity Daphne's ears filled with screaming.

Writhing amongst the remnants of a glass coffee table, Amelia Bones was being held under the Cruciatus curse, and as Daphne followed the coiling beam of spell light she found the transgressor. Having never come into contact with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named before, Daphne expected not recognise who she was looking at, but he was just as frightening as expected. He was impossibly thin and his skin was inhumanly white. The paleness of his skin only intensified the terrifying vividness of his red eyes.

As soon as he lifted the curse Amelia Bones gasped for air and tried to crawl towards the spot where her wand lay abandoned.

"One last chance." His voice caused an icy cold fear to seep through Daphne's body. "I will even be so gracious as to grant your niece a merciful death when you—"

The sound of Susan banging on the cupboard door and shouting her aunt's name made Daphne jump, drowning out You-Know-Who's threats. Her attention was quickly drawn back though when Amelia Bones spoke in a raspy but firm voice.

"It will be a cold day in Hell before I let you get close to Susan." Daphne had to admit, Amelia's strength in the face of adversity was admirable. "So either get out of my home, or kill me."

You-Know-Who's foot came down hard on Amelia's wand and Daphne heard it crack from across the room.

Her vision lit up with green.

Daphne sat bolt upright in bed. Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, she stumbled towards her bathroom, and twisted the taps until the water rushed down onto the porcelain. The sudden cacophony of sound made her body jolt, splashing water up her arms and across the front of her nightdress. She swore lightly.

Washing away the sheen of sweat on her face Daphne looked up at her pale reflection in the mirror.

She had to do something.

* * *

Based on the surroundings Daphne recalled in the dream there was a possibility she had less than twenty-four hours to stop Amelia, and possibly Susan's, death. Even though there was no changing her mind upon making the decision to help, she couldn't just disappear in the middle of the night. In the morning, she faked being ill and eventually pretended to fall asleep when her mother wouldn't leave her alone. Once she was sure her parents weren't going to disturb her she managed to slip from the house in the late afternoon without being caught.

Daphne moved back off the step and looked up at the ivy-covered trellis around the door. It was a beautiful property; one that would remain beautiful without a hole in the front of the living room. She inhaled deeply—stomach still rolling with anxiety. The sun beat down on Daphne's skin. She folded her arms across her chest and turned at the sound of the front door opening.

"Daphne?" Susan's voice made Daphne's skin tingle, but she forced herself to focus on Susan's words. "Daphne Greengrass? What—what are you doing here?"

Daphne couldn't uncross her arms; she was far too tense. "I—okay, is your aunt here?"

"Uhhh." Susan frowned, pushing her hair out of her face, and cocking her head to study Daphne. "Yeah, she is working from home in the office today. Daphne, you look... you look like you're scared of something. What on earth is going on?"

"It's—" Daphne sighed and swallowed back her apprehension. "It's really important that I talk to your aunt and—and you."

Susan must have seen something in Daphne's eyes that was akin to desperation because she stepped back and gestured for Daphne to come inside. As soon as the door closed behind them Susan called out for her aunt. Daphne trailed after her down a hallway with high arched ceilings that she remembered crumbling above her in a magic-infused nightmare that reminded her that she _hated _her seer abilities.

The red-head knocked on the office door, but opened it before Amelia had even responded.

Amelia was deep in paperwork and looked as though she had no time to stop. Daphne had always rather liked Amelia Bones. As she was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the woman had always been an icon to Daphne, someone to aspire to.

Amelia's eyes settled on them. "Susan. Who is this?"

"Auntie, this is Daphne Greengrass. She and I took Muggle Studies together." Susan let Amelia gesture for her to continue before speaking again. "She needs to speak to you—urgently."

The two Bones' shared a silent conversation.

"What is it that I can help you with, Miss Greengrass?"

Their gazes fell to Daphne. Suddenly she couldn't remember the whole speech she'd planned whilst travelling here. It was like the words were heavy on her tongue—impossible to shift. She inhaled deeply, as though she were trying to get enough air to explain the whole story in just one breath, and forced herself to speak.

"I'm a seer."

Both of them looked confused by that admission, and she didn't blame them, but Daphne kept explaining.

She told them the whole story.

Neither of them interrupted as Daphne explained in detail what she'd dreamt about. She didn't exclude a single detail despite the fact both Amelia and Susan were pale-faced by the time she got through it all. For a long, uncomfortable moment no one spoke. Daphne was absolutely sure she was going to be tossed out to the curb and laughed at for making up such an absurd story. Grinding her teeth, Daphne waited for one of the Bones' to make the first move and forced herself to not be impatient.

Amelia stood up from behind her desk and flicked her hand to clear the papers away int a neat stack. To Daphne's surprise, the older woman looked to Susan and spoke: "Pack a bag. Quickly. Only essentials."

"I'll be right back," Susan responded.

Susan cast a look across at Daphne but didn't hesitate to follow her aunt's instructions. Once Daphne and Amelia were alone, Amelia turned her attention to her and Daphne saw a flicker of something in the woman's eyes that could have easily been fear.

"How long do we have?" Amelia asked.

Daphne shook her head. "I don't know. It was nighttime but that wasn't really what I was focused on."

The evening was already drawing. Amelia nodded in acknowledgment and then went across to an armchair in the corner of the room. Daphne watched in curiosity as she knelt on the chair, reached over the high back, and pulled a carpet bag from behind it. She hauled it across to the desk and dropped it on top with a soft thud. Neither of them exchanged a word until Susan returned to the office a few minutes later looking flustered. She put her own backpack by the door and joined Daphne, putting a hand softly on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Daphne hummed in confusion. "What—yes. Of course, I'm okay."

"Are you?" Susan responded, searching Daphne's face with large brown eyes for a sign that Daphne was lying.

She was lying. That was besides the point. She was here to warn them; she was here to do everything she possibly could to stop the future she'd seen. This was not the time to panic. Daphne Greengrass wasn't one to panic.

"Honestly, Susan, I'm fine," she said in a hushed voice.

Susan opened her mouth to argue, but before she could argue further, Amelia spoke, "Right, Miss Greengrass, you will have to leave with us. I won't be responsible for you not getting home safely. Susan—you have your wand?"

There was no more conversation after that. Amelia gave out directions and Daphne had no choice but to follow them alongside Susan. With nothing but the contents of their bags, all three of them left the house behind. They left through the back door and Amelia even took the time to raise and strengthen the wards before they climbed over the stile at the back of the garden. By the time they reached the treeline, darkness had seeped across the sky, causing Daphne's chest to fill with a deep unease.

It was tonight.

Flames were reflected in Susan's pupils as she turned to look back at Daphne.

Daphne could feel the heat on her back from where she stood. The ground shook. All three of them turned to watch the house as the sound of explosions filled the countryside. The orange of fire was a stark contrast against the night sky.

"Oh Merlin," Susan gasped.

There was a moment where all the sound was sucked away into a vacuum and Daphne felt like she was standing in a dark void. Susan's hands came up to her mouth in horror. Amelia froze, looking, for the first time, like she had no idea what to do. Time stopped.

It all came back with the same ferocity in which it left.

Amelia came back to her senses first. She barked instructions for them to follow her into the trees and Susan caught Daphne's arm to pull her after them. Branches clawed at her exposed arms and Daphne was sure she tripped over every tree root in their path. She hoped it wasn't much further.

When they finally reached their destination, Daphne understood. The world came back into sharp clarity as she looked down at the broken frame of a wooden chair.

It was a portkey.

When the three of them were ripped away from solid ground Daphne felt as though she could breathe again.


End file.
